WTAE ready to go with the new set; WPXI seems to be on hold with new studios

WTAE-TV will unveil the new news set on Tuesday (9/4) at 5:00 PM. A picture (available in the PG news story) shows meteorologist Dimitrius Ivory behind the new two-desk weather set. The remainder of the new digs includes a monitor in front of the news desk as well as one which can pop up behind the anchors. Over the last few weeks the newscasts have originated from the newsroom desk.

Meanwhile, I am little perplexed about what is going on with the new WPXI-TV studios. Reports earlier in the summer said that the newscasts would begin to come from the new studios but now it doesn’t seem so. In the same PG story, it says that Bill Cardille (who signed Channel 11 on as WIIC on 9/1/1957) was invited to be a part of the ribbon cutting ceremony at the new studios but is now unable now that the ceremony has been postponed from just after Labor Day to later in September. (One assumes that the ribbon cutting comes BEFORE something opens…but one could be wrong!) Either way, the 50th Anniversary special for the station will air on 9/22 at 10:00 PM.

Speaking of Chilly Billy: Cardille goes on to host his 37th annual Jerry Lewis Telethon this weekend on WPXI. He began hosting it in 1970 when the station picked up the telethon. Originally Channel 53 carried the telethon but it was in that year – one week before the telethon – that the station went dark due to financial reasons. Channel 11 was quick to pick it up and make Cardille the host with former radio personality Perry Marshall.

Finally, check out Rick Sebak’s blog as he and his crew are travelling the Lincoln Highway (U. S. Route 30) for another exciting national documentary.